Dean of Academic Life

As Dean of Academic Life, I am committed to working with faculty, students and staff to build and sustain the most engaged learning and teaching environment possible. I want students to be empowered in their learning and supported by the College as they follow their passions and make every moment count.

I have taught applied mathematics for twenty years. Students learn the beauty and power of mathematics in solving real-world problems. This power to creatively reason and develop solutions lies in all of the disciplines at Muhlenberg College, in the Sciences, the Social Sciences, the Humanities, and the Arts. Our faculty seeks to stimulate thinking, engage students in the joy of learning, and help make learning a life-long success in the best of the liberal arts tradition. While at Muhlenberg, students should develop into creative, confident and competent reasoners. This engagement can be true of our students at any level of academic skill or achievement. Muhlenberg’s dedicated faculty, administrative staff, and student peers are all partners in this enterprise. We all seek to challenge and support student learners and ourselves.

Many of us have had a dream, and we have often been told to follow that dream. We need to envision goals that will allow us to realize the dream. However, if we do not have a plan to go along with the goals, then the dream will just remain a wish. The staff and faculty at Muhlenberg College enable students to develop an effective plan to go with the goals, embracing every learning opportunity to make the dream come true.

Several initiatives have grown out of this philosophy, including three programs for academically talented students: the Prestigious Awards Initiative, Student Travel, and Summer Research Stipends in all disciplines. Since its inception, the Prestigious Awards Initiative has resulted in over one hundred-twenty awards for students, including two Trumans, twenty-three Fulbrights and nineteen NSFs. With these grants, students have pursued studies at Princeton, Harvard, Brown, Vanderbilt, the University of Wisconsin, and universities overseas. Closely mentored students, whether actual award winners or not, have praised our program for its value in developing their habits of self-scrutiny, their sense of participating in a professional conversation within and beyond the College, and their competitiveness for graduate and professional school applications. Many of these students have received Summer Research Stipends of $2600, plus academic credit and paid housing.

For entering students, there is a nationally recognized, year-long Orientation program. Our peer tutoring program has received national recognition. A campus-wide initiative has been to articulate and live the importance of academic integrity, also receiving national recognition as a program of excellence. A revised system of academic probation and a new category of academic warning assist students at risk academically.